University of Massachusetts Lowell, South Campus - Tues/Thurs 11:00-12:115

While the prevalence of social problems is clear, the definition of what makes a social problem is less so. There are several ways to define social problems, whether it is something that considers the number of people harmed by an issue or a dysfunction between how the world ‘should be’ and how the world ‘is’. In general, this course takes a constructivist view of social problems, by recognizing that a social problem may depend on the point of view of the person or groups defining a problem. Emphasis is placed on how human beings construct social problems through a set of steps/processes in which rhetoric and resources are applied deferentially through a set of stages defined by claimsmakers, media, the public, policy makers, implementers and evaluators (Best 2007). The first half of the semester emphasizes the rhetoric and resources to construct social problem claims. The second half of the semester emphasizes the role of institutions (media, public, policy makers and administrators) in the construction of social problems (Best 2007).

As a first blog post from the semester, this post is taken directly from the introductory section of my syllabus...more to come...

What are social problems?

We are literally surrounded by social problems ranging from wealth/income inequality to “fake news” to the deaths of African American youth at the hands of police to terrorism to a wage gap between men and women to the “illegal immigration.” Social problems and their implicit “solutions” compete for our attention at protests, on the news, and in the halls of legislative bodies as well as around our kitchen tables. The competition for our attention between different social problems can be overwhelming. How some social problems are able to garner public attention while others are not is a core question that we will discuss in this course.

While the prevalence of social problems is clear, the definition of what makes a social problem is less so. There are several ways to define social problems, whether it is something that considers the number of people harmed by an issue or a dysfunction between how the world ‘should be’ and how the world ‘is’. In general, this course takes a constructivist view of social problems, by recognizing that a social problem may depend on the point of view of the person or groups defining a problem. Emphasis is placed on how human beings construct social problems through a set of steps/processes in which rhetoric and resources are applied differentially through a set of stages defined by claimsmakers, media, the public, policy makers, implementers and evaluators (Best 2007). The first half of the semester emphasizes the rhetoric and resources to construct social problem claims. The second half of the semester emphasizes the role of institutions (media, public, policy makers and administrators) in the construction of social problems (Best 2007).

An underlying premise in how we approach studying social problems in this course is the sociological imagination, which refers to the ways that our personal biographies intersect with the forces of history (Mills 1959). Given this, it is imperative upon us to care about and pay attention to problems in the social world around us. An analytic lens for understanding the sociological imagination is the miner’s canary. The miner’s canary is a metaphor that emphasizes the need to examine social contexts. For most of us, we live in a society and culture where we have been taught to explain people’s behavior through individual, rational and psycho-biological worldview. The sociological imagination challenges this dominant worldview by explaining social problems through the interplay of structure, culture and human agency. Furthermore, the miner’s canary metaphor provides a warning system in which the most vulnerable in society are the first to experience problems that will affect everyone unless prevented.

Finally, this course incorporates hands-on experiential team projects for you to move beyond an analysis of social problems to consider “social solutions” as we explore answers to the question “Is another world possible?” Presuming that we can imagine another world, what should be our responsibility and strategy for working to construct this other (presumably better) world? We will explore the potential to address social problems through a “service-learning” projects that addresses one or more structural social issues.

PURPOSES OF THE CLASS

As part of this over-aching goal, this class is designed around three primary learning objectives:

1. To develop an introductory understanding of a range public social problems from a sociological point of view, meaning that students will learn about the contextualized structural and cultural explanations for many public problems in current news events.

2. To gain the skills to define and critically assess social problems and recommend alternative courses of action for policy makers, media, citizens and other stakeholders. These include the rhetorical skills of defining social problems within public discourse as well as the ability to analyze social problem claims an their evolution from multiple perspectives over time.

3. To build social responsibility for engaging in collective problem solving practices that seek to redress social problems at a structural/collective level.

In order to accomplish these objectives, the class pedagogy includes lectures that analyze current social problems, online participation via Blackboard, and completion of a team experiential learning community project.

PHENOM Civic Learning Project

As part of this course, you will participate in a civic-learning project with the Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts (PHENOM). PHENOM engages in grassroots organizing, policy analysis, education and advocacy in leading the fight for affordable, well-funded, high quality public higher education in Massachusetts. Students will join small work groups to advocate for issues that they define. At the end of the semester, we will host a public forum to share your concerns, make recommendations as UMASS Lowell students to institutional and government leaders.

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